iOS, Mac tools for remote collaboration
The coronavirus threat suggests enterprises should put remote working and collaboration systems in place.
While the World Health Organization (WHO) hasn’t yet called for large-scale events to be cancelled, it has issued detailed advice for those planning such events.
Among other things, the agency notes that as a result of exposure at short-term events attendees will likely fall sick when they return to where they come from, infecting many more as they travel.
Common sense suggests that avoiding international events and minimizing business travel may help limit the spread of the problem.
This is what has caused some big events and major participants at such events to cancel. The idea is to slow infection rates to gain time to learn more about the virus. I have come across some hope that the illness will simply time out, as such infections sometimes do, but if wishes were stars the night would be brighter than the day.
What can your business do?
Enterprises can help buy time by encouraging use of remote collaboration systems in order to improve business resilience if infection rates rise.
Fortunately, there are many remote working and collaboration systems that can be put in place to help. An exhaustive list of all of them is beyond the scope of this piece. Larger enterprises likely already use tools such as Microsoft Teams or solutions from Cisco, SAP, or IBM for this task, and such use can be encouraged.
There are other tools. The recently-introduced Challo seems to be a promising solution because it combines both security and business-to-business communication tools. In addition to Challo, you’ll find a multitude of video conferencing solutions from many big names, with Zoom seeing rapid adoption across many enterprises.
Beyond video conferencing
There’s more to business than video conferencing, of course.( I already looked at a selection of useful tools for IT services, collaborative flow chart analysis, human resources and data analytics.)
The following selection isn’t necessarily available for both iOS and Mac, but should give you a good starting point as you seek out your own set of solutions to enable remote collaboration across your business.
Getting things done means keeping things organized, which is where solutions like Harvest for time sheets, and the powerful message-based collaboration environment of Slack make so much sense. Enterprises need to find ways to nurture teamwork, sometimes across time zones, which is why non-linear solutions like Trello, Asana and iTaskX ,Clickup (which I’ve heard may be used at Apple) work well.
Then there are the tools for specific tasks
SignEasy, for example, is a well thought-through solution that makes PDF signing and management a breeze, and there is an increasing industry in the development of overarching solutions that combine multiple solutions in one place. Trello, for example, integrates third-party options such as Dropbox. It may make sense to explore some of the voice-first solutions that exist if your employees already make use of wearable devices, such as AirPods or Apple Watch.
Studies suggest remote working tools like these unleash positive productivity benefits and increase staff retention.
